Watched some more of James Maloney today via the BethelTV sight. Turns out he used to teach in Horsham not far from where I grew up.

James Maloney

He told a story from when he was at “Christ for the nations institute” in Dallas where he placed his hand on a student’s badly deformed face and felt his hands go into it like putty. God healed her face totally. He made reference to verses like “by the hands of the apostles where many signs and wonders wrought among the people” emphasising the laying on of hands. He also talked about Acts 19:11 “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul”, (ESV) and made the point that there are ordinary miracles extraordinary miracles. I guess there are degrees of the miraculous, although I’d be happy at this point to see ordinary miracles!

Another interesting comment was that God the father is a young father. He is not old, wrinkled, tired, slow, forgetful…he is strong, quick, …Interesting point. Why do we picture God as old. I guess because of connotations of wisdom and the fact that Jesus was 30ish.

Also “created to do good works” is not just helping old ladies across the road but “healing and signs and wonders miracles”.

Heres a good quote : “I’m not going to stand here and say that the reasons you didn’t get healed is because you have some sin in your life. Or some root of unbelief. That’s not cutting it with me anymore. That can be possibly a reason don’t misunderstand me, but you know that gets lame after a while. Good hearted people come to our miracle services and my heart breaks …to everyone that we see healed and delivered there are others that seemly [don’t] we may say “what is it” and I’m pressing towards understand in that, …its just possible that God chooses the time of greatest impact in their life and others…”

Thought that was really helpful in releasing people from feeling bad about not being healed.

And another (sorry this is a bit disjointed)

“you can be an anointed jerk…just because God uses someone to raise the dead does not mean he endorses their life style.”

I ended up looking at a Benny Hinn interview on you tube “Scepticism is worse today than it was in Oral Roberts day….the biggest sceptics are pastors“. Owch. Please God keep me open and believing but not gullible and undiscerning.

Anyway, after all than I had a great time with Mike Betts walking and praying on the beach at Lowestoft. Maybe I’ll write up some more quotes from the actual conference tomorrow.

Yesterday I got back from an amazing few days away visiting Bedford for the “Heaven Touches Earth” conference. I signed up for it a few months ago (see 24th March) and boy am I glad I did. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it in my life. There was a guy there called James Maloney who prophesied to people in such an amazingly accurate way that you could almost hear jaws hitting the floor all over the auditorium.

This is the sort of thing we heard as he picked people out to prophecy over : “I see you at a little coffee table, on a big comfy chair by the window, is that right? (person nodes, yes), you have a big bible with verses underlined in it (yes). God has given you three promises recently that you have been thinking about (yes), you’ve underlined them, one is in the psalms. (yes). That will come true.” He also prophesied what was wrong with people “you have a problem with your left knee” and then healed them. Although I guess it’s always good to wait for confirmation of healings, the staggering thing is that he didn’t say “who has such and such condition?” he said “you have this condition…God heals you right now”.

I am sitting there watching this and it’s like it’s not real but I know it is. Every skeptical bone in my body wants to find some naturalistic explanation other than God, but there is none. I spoke to some of the people afterwards who said “every word was true”.

My spirit is crying out within me “let this change you, reach out for this, break out of your small definitions of what is means to live by the Spirit, press forward again for healing and prophecy and power, know that there is a God in heaven who loves you with a love that is so real and tangible that it will release rivers of joy into your life. Don’t settle for trickles of the Spirit. Don’t do 9 volt DC Christianity, plug in and do the 240 volt AC version”.

It was great to see Julian Adams there too who brought some great words of knowledge and released more of God’s healing power. He had a word about a lump under someone’s left arm and by the time the person had raised and lowered their arm in response the lump had shrunk. I think it was totally (or almost totally) gone by the next day.

The worship was good too with lots of new songs and some great Jesus culture stuff. Would love to have some Jesus culture worship songs at kings. They are so Jesus focused.

As for the teaching the style was informing and engaging but a bit difference from what I’m used to. It was more Pentecostal (not sure if that’s the right word) or how to explain it. It wasn’t a standard three point structure or argument but lots of gems rolled out, like tipping diamonds out of a small black velvet back onto a table.

Here are some gems from one of James Maloney’s preaches:

God is not just able to heal he is healing, he is called Jehovah Rapha in the bible or Jehovah Raphael Spanish or in English Jehovah Ralf!

this [impartation] is a gift of tremendous fruitfulness for you. The time of wilderness is coming to an end. He wants you to bear much fruit

you are being transformed from glory to glory. Not from mess to glory but glory to glory. You need to find the glory in your current situation to move to greater glory in the next.

What you adore emotionally, spiritual etc you become like

Sonship is positional, friendship is relational and experiential. Jesus calls his disciples friends.

The key to miracles is not prayer or fasting or morality, its intimacy with God.

If God is first in your life your family will be first. All that God first, family second and church last is a bunch of bunk

Many prophets suffer from PMS – prophetic mood swings.

The gift does not endorse the person.

Lakeland was not about Todd Bentley it was about the place.

I stayed over for the Sunday meeting and that was great too. I have blogged more elsewhere on this so I’ll leave it at that here. I may blog some more quotes I took down at the conference tomorrow.

Always on the look out for things that will inspire and build my faith for supernatural healing I was excited to stumble upon the “Heaven touches earth” conference at Bedford recently. I just went to their web site today to find out more about it and read that the main speakers are Julian Adams and a man called James Maloney. Not having heard of the later before I listened to one of his talks on you tube. He’s a great story teller and an engaging speaking. He told of a man with a hand but no arm whose got healed in the he name of Jesus. His hand shot out from his shoulder with an brand new arm behind it!

Holy Hubert Linsey

Another of his stores was about a man who came to speak to them at bible collage. He was freckled, had no teeth and so sprayed saliva all over the from row where he was sitting. He didn’t give the name but said he was one of the original “Little rascals” (not the 1994 remake). Well google led me to a man named “Holy Hubert Linsey” who was indeed one of the original little rascals. He has been threatened, stabbed, blinded and had his teeth kicked out, all for preaching the gospel. I’ve just watched a video of him preaching in a 1987 outreach at Bowling Green State University. I can see why he got into trouble. He’s very “in your face”; challenging, even rude and aggressive. His style is definitely what you would call “hell fire and brimstone” but he clearly holds out the gospel to people. The many students who gather round him alternate between mocking and anger in their response.

Apparently he’s been doing this sort of things for years. In the 60s he preached to the radical hippies in Berkley California, some of whom got saved and went to southern California to tell their hippy friends. They in turn got saved and pitched up to a church called Calvary Chapel run by Chuck Smith (who had been the campaign manager for Paul Cain – but that’s another story). Chuck Smith Had been praying for hippies and his church became the centre of the Jesus movement. Their preaching was bible based, simple but expository and their informal style and worship has apparent had a big influence on contemporary Christian music.

Going to his web site I discovered that he has preached through the whole bible! Wow. It looks like he does several chapters at once. I’m just listening to his preach on the bit I am speaking on this Sunday; Matthew 8:17. In contrast to Dr Martin Lloyd Jones verse by verse, even word by word preaching he preaches on whole paragraphs at a time. It’s actually quite a refreshing style. Read a short passage, make a few observations, then move on. Here we go he’s reading out the Isaiah quote now.

“‘He took up our infirmities and carried out sorrows’ There are those bible scholars today who want that to make that apply only to spiritual healing. But really the finest commentary you have on the old testament is not always those who declare themselves to be bible scholars today. The finest commentary you have on the OT is the inspired NT. And here Matthew writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit declares that the physical healing upon all of these people that were brought to Jesus as he was there in Peters house in the evening, and as Jesus healed them all he was doing that that the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled. So Matthew extends the prophecy of Isaiah to include physical haling as well as spiritual healing.”

I think he’s right. He goes on to say some things I’m not so sure about but I’m going to explore this verse more in the next few days. Its been an interesting journey so far.